Daily Archives: April 4, 2011

In the beginning was the word and the word was… good? Four hundred years after the publication of the King James Bible, philosopher AC Grayling has written a book which offers atheists a “bible” of their very own.

In The Good Book, Professor Grayling attempts to whisk together in one tome the wisdom of Ancient Greek philosophers, Confucian sages, medieval poets and the discoveries of modern science.

Without any reference to gods, souls or afterlives, it aims to give atheists a book of inspiration and guidance as they make their way in the world.

Bless their hearts—they can now “make their way in the world.” Read the whole thing at the link.

Bill Steigerwald has an article in the April Reason — on newsstands now! — arguing that a great deal of John Steinbeck’s acclaimed travelogue Travels with Charley was fabricated. His essay caught the eye of The New York Times, which covered the story today….

I remember liking the book years ago, never thinking that it wasn’t true.

From Muholland Books, Talking Titles by Eric Beetner. In my book—soon to be published?—I argued with myself for months over the title, in the end settling on my working title as more descriptive than any other. But then my book isn’t noir fiction, which one could argue requires more “bite.” The introduction:

It’s either one step above or one step below judging a book by its cover, but say what you will – titles matter. They matter a whole lot in the noir fiction world since back when the stands used to be filled with the salacious come-ons of pulp fiction femme fatales in lace brassieres and a bold-type title announced the goings on inside, and they matter just as much today.

The old titles didn’t hold much back – Say It With Bullets,Dig Me A Grave, Kiss My Fist – and they succeeded in convincing people to lay out a dime for the tale that went with it. Quite often the book inside the lurid cover couldn’t deliver on the promise and therefore the pulps are littered with titles that are better than the 30 – 40,000 words that followed….